A study published in the July 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that diverted medical marijuana use among adolescents receiving treatment for substance abuse is very common.

Study participants from two adolescent substance abuse treatment programs in the Denver metropolitan area were asked questions about their medical marijuana use.121 of 164 adolescents (73.8%) reported using medical marijuana that had been recommended for someone else, also known as diverted medical marijuana, a median of 50 times. In the study, adolescents who used medical marijuana began using marijuana regularly at a younger age, and showed more marijuana abuse/dependence and conduct disorder symptoms than adolescents who did not use medical marijuana. Additionally, most of the adolescents rated smoking marijuana overall as having slight or no risk.

Recent state and federal policy changes have allowed for more widespread legalized medical marijuana use in Colorado. At the time of the study only 41 adolescents in the state held valid registry identification cards for medical marijuana, which suggests that adolescents using medical marijuana are more likely to have obtained it from adult registered users than from peers. The study also calls into question the adequacy of the safeguards meant to prevent medical marijuana use by individuals to whom it was not recommended, adolescents in particular. As the study authors note, in Colorado, medical marijuana is not handled like other medications that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): once approved for medical marijuana usage, individuals can purchase different amounts or even grow a personal supply.

And so on.

Also — raise a hand, who of you was aware that there’s a special poleetspeak term for recreationally used pot procured from a MMJ patient? Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the phrase “diverted medical marijuana” before. When googled, page after page of hits refer to different versions of this same piece of news.

I guess they will start calling proscription drugs “diverted pharmaceutical drugs” and that gives more footing for claiming that marijuana is just as dangerous as lil Johnny getting some of his mom’s sleeping pills.

BANGKOK (AP) – A Thai court on Monday sentenced three police officers to death for killing a teenager during a much-criticised drug crackdown by the government eight years ago.

The officers were found guilty on Monday of killing a 17-year-old student in Kalasin province in the north-east in 2004 and moving his body to conceal the cause of death.

The killing took place under former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s government, which declared a crackdown on the drug trade to stem an influx of methamphetamine. Rights activists allege it resulted in more than 2,000 extrajudicial killings.

The Criminal Court also sentenced a former deputy police district commander to life in prison for the boy’s murder and the former district commander was given a seven-year jail term for abuse of authority. One police officer was acquitted.

This needs to happen a few times in the US.

Also good bye Gore Vidal,,and why is his death listed as drug war news?

I think it was 2006 when I first heard the term diversion, and it was in relation to California’s Compassionate Use Act.

Instead of sniggling over words the more important point is that there’s no magic bullet to avoid diversion of medicine. The fact that diversion exists is only relevant if it can be proved that kids weren’t able to get cannabis in the absence of medicinal availability and that fantasy is utter horse shit. I was snitching pot from my best friends parent’s stash in 1978. With my best friend as an active participant too, it wasn’t like I was sneaking into their home to do that.

The fact that over a decade and a half into the time of State level medicinal cannabis laws has sen no increase in youth use in those States is much more relevant.

Now kids can enjoy all the blood and death associated with the drug war by viewing it as a video game. Who would have thought the drug war could be so much fun?

“Electronic Arts announced Thursday that, with the help of Visceral Games, it will launch a new installment in the ‘Army of Two’ video game franchise — one that takes place amid the bloody drug war in Mexico.”